Exploding a fair few wordy myths
July 9, 2007
AFTER recent comments from Defence Minister Brendan Nelson, debate is raging over whether America and Australia went to war in Iraq because of oil.
This is absurd. Nobody was more surprised to discover that Iraq had oil than the Allies. Goodness, with all that fuel around, it was just as well that those weapons of mass destruction were only prevented from exploding by the fact that they didn't exist. Otherwise, the whole country could have gone up in flames. Oh, wait a minute … Anyway, here are some ideas that should probably be blown up.
Carbon trading. If a tree falls in the forest and no one gets a tax credit, did it really fall? An important philosophical question.
Coles sale. As Coles senior executives and directors prepare to accept their payouts, we should all feel reassured that you don't necessarily have to be marvellously good at your job to become wealthy. A comfort to us all. Well, maybe not Coles staff.
Credit card brand. Something that must look good in bankruptcy court.
Foreign policy. Many say that Australian foreign policy is little more than empty posturing. They could not be more wrong. Most Australian foreign policy is full of it.
Leader. A person who, when faced with daunting challenges, knows exactly what to do. Blame his predecessor.
Minimum wage rises. Something that is appallingly inflationary because workers insist on spending it all. Unlike increases to executive salaries, which are not inflationary because, cleverly, they are so big nobody can spend it all.
Peak oil. The allegation that oil production has reached its peak, and will start to decline. Impossible to confirm, because we are only allowed a peek.
David James is Leadership editor of BRW magazine and author of The Business Devil's Dictionary.
The Age 9-7-7
http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/exploding-a-fair-few-wordy-myths/2007/07/08/1183833344246.html
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Charges dropped against woman who pulled faces at police dog
June 8, 2007 - 9:12AM
A US prosecutor dropped charges against a woman who was arrested for staring at and making faces at a police dog.
Jayna Hutchinson was about to go on trial this week on charges of cruelty to a police animal and resisting arrest, but the case was dropped on Tuesday.
"I think it was going to be difficult to prove her conduct changed the dog's behavior," Orange County State's Attorney Will Porter said. "Most of the time (in harassment cases) people would come tell the court what it felt like. Dogs can't do that."
Hutchinson, 33, of Lebanon, New Hampshire, was charged in July when police were called to a market to investigate a report of a brawl.
They were approached by Hutchinson, who said she had been assaulted the day before by one of the men involved and wanted to make a statement. Vermont State Police Sgt Todd Protzman told her she seemed drunk and he would take a statement from her later.
After a heated exchange, she approached Protzman's cruiser, where his dog, Max, was waiting. She put her face within centimetres of the window and stared at Max "in a taunting/harassing manner", Protzman wrote in an affidavit.
Officers arrested Hutchinson, adding a resisting arrest charge because she pulled away from them.
"Prosecuting a woman for 'staring' at a police dog is absurd," said her lawyer, public defender Kelly Green. "People are allowed to make faces at police dogs and officers to express their disapproval. It's constitutional expression."
Without the cruelty charge, jurors would be unlikely to convict her on the resisting arrest count, Porter said.
AP
SMH 8-6-7
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/charges-dropped-against-woman-who-pulled-faces-at-police-dog/2007/06/08/1181089278109.html
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Patient sheds green blood in emergency operation
June 8, 2007 - 10:18AM
Canadian doctors say an emergency operation in Vancouver has turned into a scene from the X-files when the patient started shedding green blood.
But tests show the 42-year-old man isn't a visiting alien, but was suffering from a rare blood condition.
Reporting in The Lancet medical journal doctors say the patient was being operated on for restricted blood flow in his lower legs after falling asleep in a sitting position.
But surgeons were startled by his dark greenish-black blood.
It's apparently been caused by sulphur in the patient's migraine medication being absorbed into his red blood cells.
AAP
SMH 8-6-7
http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/patient-sheds-green-blood-in-emergency-operation/2007/06/08/1181089281521.html
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Cop shoots colleague in safety demo
From correspondents in London
The 1st of June, 2007 12:00
Article from: Agence France-Presse
A POLICE marksman accidentally shot a colleague - during a firearms safety lecture, British media reported today.
The wounded man was in a serious but stable condition in a hospital in Oxford, southern England, The Times said.
New control room operators for Thames Valley Police were being given a training lecture on how the force's firearms team operates by one of its officers, the Daily Mail said.
"For some reason, the gun he was using to demonstrate the weapons they use was loaded and as the group was listening intently, a shot rang out and one of them was shot in the stomach from fairly close range,'' a police source told the tabloid.
"There was a lot of blood as a result of the shooting and pandemonium broke out.''
The officer, who said he did not know the gun was loaded, has been suspended from the firearms unit, The Sun said.
"The question uppermost in everyone's mind is why on earth the gun was loaded when it was being used during a demonstration in a classroom,'' a police source told The Times.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission will investigate the incident.
Daily Telegraph 1-6-7
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21831378-5001028,00.html?from=public_rss
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Wednesday, the 30th of May 2007. 4:43pm (AEST)
Indian motorists complain about 'elephant toll'
An elephant in eastern India has sparked complaints from motorists who accuse it of blocking traffic and refusing to allow vehicles to pass unless drivers give it food.
The Hindustan Times says the elephant was scouting for food on a highway in the eastern state of Orissa, forcing motorists to roll down their windows and get out of the car.
Local resident Prabodh Mohanty has come across the elephant twice.
"The tusker [an elephant with tusks] then inserts its trunk inside the vehicle and sniffs for food," he said.
"If you are carrying vegetables and bananas inside your vehicle, then it will gulp them and allow you to go."
If a commuter does not wind down his or her window, or resists opening the vehicle door, the elephant stands in front of the car until the driver allows the animal to carry out his routine inspection.
- Reuters
ABC 30-5-7
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1938091.htm
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" Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate. -Sigmund Freud "
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Pit bull dog owner bites policeman
From correspondents in Lisbon
The 3rd of April 2007 12:00
Article from: Agence France-Presse
THE owner of a pit bull bit a policeman after his dog ran away during a confrontation with officers, daily Diario de Noticias reported today.
Two policemen stopped the dog owner for walking the animal without a leash and a muzzle on Sunday in Cova da Moura – a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Lisbon.
The man threatened the officers with his dog, but the animal bolted leaving the 35-year-old to to grapple with both policemen.
The owner bit one of the policemen on the wrist while the other suffered a broken finger in the scuffles, the newspaper reported.
The owner is under house arrest while police are still looking for the pit bull, according to the daily.
Portuguese authorities are cracking down on what they call "dangerous" dogs after four rottweilers mauled a 60-year-old woman to death last month.
While not necessarily dangerous, pit bulls are sometimes used by gang members to intimidate and in dog fights.
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German man chainsaws house in two in divorce split
Saturday, The 10th of March 2007. 8:29am (AEDT)
A 43-year-old German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making off with his half in a forklift truck.
Police in the eastern town of Sonneberg say the trained mason measured the single-storey summer house, which was some eight metres long and six metres wide, before chainsawing through the wooden roof and walls.
"The man said he was just taking his due," said a police spokesman.
"But I don't think his wife was too pleased."
After finishing the job, the man picked up his half with the forklift truck and drove to his brother's house where he has since been staying.
- Reuters
ABC 10-3-7
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1868327.htm
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